But the ONE thing I just can't get used to is the Icelandic keyboard. You see, at my office I'm typing away for 8+ hours a day on an Icelandic keyboard. And I say "typing" loosely. It's more like hunt-and-peck and a whole lotta backspace key action. Then I come home--back to my laptop's US keyboard--and I find myself hitting all the wrong keys because I've been using an Icelandic keyboard all day. What is the secret to switching from one system to the other? Am I just getting old and unable to make adjustments?
The biggest difference between the Icelandic and US keyboards is the punctuation keys. For example, the following are in different locations: @ " & / * ( ) = - _ \ + ? : ; And the apostrophe is weird too--on the Icelandic keyboard, I have to shift and hit the key with the accent (the accent for letters like á, ó, í, etc.) but it doesn't work so smoothly. And the quotation marks look all funky too. It wouldn't be a problem for writing all in Icelandic and using Icelandic punctuation but at work I'm creating materials all in English, so it's just an efficiency drag.
The Icelandic alphabet contains 32 letters--not including C,Q,W, and Z--so as you can imagine, the keyboard is quite crowded (see image below). Luckily, the Icelandic keyboard retains the letters C, Q, W, and Z because those are used for foreign "loan words". I imagine that somewhere out there, some grumpy old nationalistic curmudgeons (the people that honestly believe everything Icelandic is best í heimi, or "best in the world") are bemoaning the fact that the Icelandic keyboard contains foreign letters...god forbid those foreign influences threatening the language!
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I guess you know very well where are the letters in the US keyboard, then change the language in your Icelandic keyboard and forget what the letters say. You could even put sticks. It works at least for me when I need to write something in Spanish and I don't have ñ/Ñ
ReplyDeleteHa! I know just what you mean! Am stateside now, but I used to get so frustrated, particularly at the numbers. I would say if you're working mostly in English, you could try getting a hold of a wireless keyboard from the US for work, perhaps? In any case, don't let the Hnakki get you down!
ReplyDeleteThat's easy, you just change the language of the keyboard. Control panel - regional and language options - languages - details - and there you are able to choose different input languages and choose between input languages as you please...
ReplyDeleteYup, either change the language of the icelandic keyboard and ignore the stickers on the keys. OR, if you don't know the keyboard by feel you could also just unplug (unless you are using a laptop) your home keyboard and take it to work and plug it in every morning. If you don't have a "loose" US keyboard, sounds like the next time you go home you should buy one...they are cheap.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking maybe the slang term Skinka in Icelandic might be derived from American English slang, "skank". The two words sound a lot alike, and refer to sort of the same type of girl.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, highland roads are anything but scary. Mostly very tame actually. Somewhere around Langjokull we met a guy from NZ who drove them all (while officially still closed for traffic) in a rental Hyundai Getz. You'd be amazed at what a normal car is capable of if you don't care about possible damage while crossing rivers. :)
ReplyDeleteSecond, disregard for the rules? While thankfully not typically Scandinavian (maybe that's why they left) they certainly haven't given me the impression of the opposite extreme. Let's call it a healthy disregard ok? :)
I just left but can't wait to go back... guess this is also the point where I say thanks for the pre-visit tips over the last few months.
Thanks for the comments, everyone. I'm just so attached to my laptop--it's like a part of my body. I go through withdrawal syndrome when forced to use an unknown desktop computer with [gasp]a different keyboard.
ReplyDelete@Lissy - skinka and skank seem to be cut from the same cloth indeed.
@Jernej - I'm guessing you haven't spent a lot of time driving on Route 607 in the southern West Fjords. While fjord roads may not qualify as highland roads, that route is insane. :') Try it when you come back.
As for the disregard for rules, it seems that jeep drivers, suburbanites parking in 101, and people in high finance feel immune from such things. That comes from 2 years + of local observation...
Correction: it's Route 60 in the West Fjords that's full of loose gravel, one-lane widths, hairpin turns, and 100 metre+ drops with no guard rails...it's fun and death defying at the same time!
ReplyDeleteeh, Route 60 is like a highway :D
ReplyDeleteI will gladly admit things can get a little scary (in a rental vehicle) :D if you try the following:
Route (trail) 2208 from Heidaryvatn to Route 214 (Thakgil). I wil bow before you if you continue (in a vehicle!) past this river crossing point (GPS: 63° 29.410'N, 18° 56.297'W - thanks for ja.is link btw)
alternatively the slightly less bouncy and seasonaly wet Dyngjuleid-Afangagil trail (it gets interesting somewhere around this point: 64° 8.343'N, 19° 24.834'W)
an even tamer, however very beautiful 9669 upstream from Berufjordur/Fossarvik. And while you're there (64° 45.464'N, 14° 30.573'W), say hi to the sheep farmers for us (a Slovenian/Finnish pair should ring a bell).
I'm sure there are many others, these are just the ones I enjoyed most, regardless that I was forced to turn around due to having an SUV that feels more at home on the road than off it.
thanks and have fun over there :)
my Icelandic work laptop keyboard has stickers on some letters that convert it from a Danish keyboard to Icelandic. After 2 years most of them have fallen off so I now can't remember where most of the special punctuation is. My work keyboard is now starting to suffer the same fate. Makes typing even more of an adventure.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I love that alt gr+Q is the @ symbol with the Icelandic keyboard, but open-apple+Q is quit. I've interrupted more than one email-writing with this annoyance.
Ha! It's how most people feel when they first arrive to France and have the order of the keys all screwed up from the American keyboard and often can't find the most crucial grammatical marks to complete their sentences! Truth be told, I am not much more comfortable on the French keyboard now than on an American one. I'd like to say you'll get used to it?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do for work?